Russia is the largest country in Europe, while its neighbour, and former Soviet ally, Ukraine is the second largest.
Both have a highly sophisticated military operation - with Ukraine now benefiting from countries around the world offering to supply equipment and logistical support.
According to the CIA, Russia has approximately 850,000 total active duty troops (375,000 Ground Troops, including about 40,000 Airborne Troops; 150,000 Navy; 160,000 Aerospace Forces; 70,000 Strategic Rocket Forces; 90,000 other uniformed personnel (approximately 20,000 special operations forces, plus command and control, cyber, support, logistics, security, etc.); est. 200-250,000 Federal National Guard Troops (2021).
Ukraine has approximately 200,000 active troops (150,000 Army, including Airborne/Air Assault Forces; 12,000 Navy; 40,000 Air Force); approximately 50,000 National Guard (2021)
Both countries spend 4% of their economies on defence.
The Russian Federation's military and paramilitary services are equipped with domestically-produced weapons systems, although since 2010 Russia has imported limited amounts of military hardware from several countries, including Czechia, France, Israel, Italy, Turkey, and Ukraine; the Russian defense industry is capable of designing, developing, and producing a full range of advanced air, land, missile, and naval systems; Russia is the world's second largest exporter of military hardware.
The Ukrainian military is equipped mostly with older Russian and Soviet-era weapons systems; since 2010, it has imported limited quantities of weapons from several European countries, as well as Canada, the US, and the United Arab Emirates; Ukraine has a broad defense industry capable of building Soviet-era land systems and maintaining and upgrading Soviet-era combat aircraft, as well as missile and air defense systems
Russia has more than 6,200 nuclear weapons. Ukraine had 3,000 nuclear weapons after the fall of the USSR - but agreed to dismantle them all.
